Zinc transporters are differentially expressed in human non-small cell lung cancer

Lung cancer is one of the most common human malignancies worldwide, but its oncogenesis process remains unclear. Recent studies demonstrated that zinc (Zn) and Zn transporters were associated with the development and progression of human cancers. The role of Zn transporters including ZIPs and ZnTs in lung cancer, however, has never been evaluated. Thus, we aimed to investigate the expression levels of all human Zn transporters, including 14 ZIPs and 10 ZnTs, in eight different lung cancer cell lines and paired human tumor tissues. We observed great variations in ZIPs and ZnTs mRNA levels across cell lines and human lung cancer specimens. ZIPs showed a tendency to be upregulated, while ZnTs exhibited a downward expression trend. ZIP4 was overexpressed in six lung cancer cell lines and 59% (26/44) of tumor tissues, which was consistent with results from lung cancer datasets including TCGA database. Our results indicated that the dysregulation of Zn transporters may contribute to lung tumorigenesis.